Steve Kerr’s coaching staff has two new faces heading into the new season. The Golden State Warriors have hired Terry Stotts as the lead assistant, while also adding Jerry Stackhouse to the ranks. The former is expected to have a significant impact on how the Warriors look to approach things on the defensive end moving forward.
During a recent interview with NBC Sports Bay Area, Stackhouse detailed his vision for how he wants Golden State to play defense. He noted how physicality would be a keyword moving forward while also looking to design a system that works for the player personnel on the roster.
“Physical – that’s the one word that I would say,” Stackhouse said. “Physical. You’ve got to be able to scramble, you’ve got to be able to rotate, and you have to see things. A lot of that is kind of built in. We want to shy away from things that go against what we don’t have built-in. That’s my philosophy on the defensive side of the ball since I’ve been coaching…But you always want to see your personnel and adjust accordingly, not come in so rigid where we just want to do it a certain way. There are some special talents, and they don’t have to do it the same way everybody else does. You have to understand that.”
Golden State finished 15th in defensive rating last season. They lost multiple close games down the stretch, often from a winning position. If Stackhouse can have the desired impact, the Warriors could be capable of winning 50 or more games in the upcoming campaign.
Of course, Stackhouse isn’t the only one working with new talent this year. Kerr has multiple new faces on the roster. As such, the Warriors’ overall approach is expected to be different from what we’ve become accustomed to seeing in recent years.
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